College is a time of tremendous growth for students. At Grinnell, student responsibility and self-governance are important values. Our academic and student life policies are designed for the 99% of students who follow the rules. We don’t establish lots of rules to address the problems created by the 1% intent on breaking them. We treat your children as adults. This can be challenging for them, for you, and for us! We don’t rush in to solve students’ problems, but we do give them appropriate support as they develop skills to become effective problem-solvers. We have high expectations for our students. In a large part, they live up to and exceed our expectations.

All students are given a copy of the Student Handbook containing policies, rules, judicial procedures and descriptions of campus services for students. The current copy of the Student Handbook is linked to the Student Affairs web page at .

Highlights of polices of particular importance include self-governance, alcohol and drugs, and sexual misconduct. Very briefly….

• Under self-governance, students are responsible for their community; accountable for their choices and for preventing their actions from infringing or violating other's rights; responsible for speaking and listening to others to reach shared understandings; and responsible for addressing situations and communicating concerns about issues that undermine community or individual rights.
• The college prohibits the unlawful possession, use, or distribution of alcohol or drugs by students. The college will impose sanctions on students who violate the alcohol and drug policy. Student Affairs policies and procedures allow alcohol to be served at student parties to students of age. The college does not provide alcohol to students, nor is college money used to purchase alcohol for students. Alcohol served at student parties is purchased and served by students.
• The sexual misconduct policy is based on effective consent. Effective consent is informed, freely and actively given, mutually understandable words or actions, which indicate a willingness to participate in mutually agreed upon sexual activity.

Housing/Residence Halls

Residence Life